Third Charm
by strawberri-kutie
Summary: Kate was accepted to Hogwarts on unusual circumstances. She herself doesn't know exactly why. Someone else is searching for her too. For a power she doesn't know she posseses. She must discover this before its too late, and someone gets hurt. Please R&R!!


Kate sat there, staring at the letter. Kate was 13-years-old. She had blonde hair and green eyes. She was a little on the short side. For a while now she had wanted to become an actress. Until now. Now she was just confused. At first she had thought that one of her friends was playing a joke on her. But she didn't know anyone who owned an owl let alone one trained to fly to her house and give her such an official-looking letter. She had shown her parents the letter and they had decided it was real. Deep down she believed it was too, it was her scientific mind that kept bringing up questions. Magic?? But how could it exist? It's not possible. But yet here she sat in the car. Her mother was driving her to the airport where they would fly to England and see her safely aboard the Hogwarts Express. She sighed and looked out the window. She was excited about going but also a little sad. She was leaving behind her family, friends, and the country she'd lived in her whole entire life. What must someone do to get rid of these feelings?  
  
Kate stood in the hall among the crowd of 11-year-olds. She felt out of place. Not only because she was taller then all of them but they were 11. That's how old you were when you started Hogwarts, and you were placed in 1st year. Kate was 13 and was going to be in 3rd year. She also felt awkward because these were all people living in England. They acted different, had different customs, and probably didn't understand half her slang words. (She had nothing against England it would just be hard adjusting). Everyone in her grade would have had friends here since they had been 11. She hated cliques especially when they took no notice of her. She knew nothing of Hogwarts. Let alone magic. Sure Mr. Dumbledore had been nice enough to explain some things to her on the train but still. It was going to be a long year.  
  
".We have our reasons for accepting a student into 3rd year all the way from America. But the whole school needs to help her out with learning magic. She will be sorted with the rest of the 1st years tonight," Dumbledore finished. The 1st years all walked in and the sorting hat began to sing. Kate stared at it. She had never before seen anything like it. A singing hat! Magic was going to be a little more amazing then she had thought. The hat finished singing and the hall burst into applause. A middle-aged witch (who Kate had learned her name was Professor McGonagall) stepped forward, "When I read your name you are to sit on the stool and put on the hat to be sorted." She pulled out a large roll of parchment. "Anderson, Avery!" A tall brunette walked to the stool. No sooner had she put on the hat - "SLYTHERIN!" it called. The Slytherin table clapped as Avery went to sit with them. Kate noticed she hadn't looked very pleasant. In fact, none of the Slytherins looked like a good group. They all looked, well, mean. "Bradley, Mackenzie!" Mackenzie put on the hat and was soon walking off towards the Gryffindor table as they cheered. "Cargile, Kathleen!" It was her turn. She heard whispers. No doubt Mr. Dumbledore had told them all of her circumstance of being here. She was easy to spot since she was taller then all the 1st years. She walked to the hat and put it on. "Let's see." a small voice in her head said. "A clever mind. Plenty of determination and bravery. Lots of ambition. What about Slytherin?" "Please, no," she thought. "Alright then, if you're sure. Then we'll make it RAVENCLAW!" She took off the hat and walked to the Ravenclaw table (which was now cheering) and sat down as "Fields, Dena" was being sorted into Slytherin. She was glad it was over. She had been really afraid the hat wouldn't put her in any of them and she would just sit there embarrassed and waiting. The next part she didn't pay real attention to. She was real tired. The sorting finished and Professor Dumbledore said something. Food appeared on their plates but she wasn't hungry. She looked up at the ceiling which looked exactly like the night sky. Wow! "It's bewitched to look like the sky," a girl next to her said, seeing her wonder. Kate nodded. Soon she looked around noticing people were starting to leave, figuring it was time to go to their dormitories. "Are you Kate?" a voice said behind her. Kate turned to see who was talking to her. It was a girl, her age. She had long shiny dark-brown hair and clear blue eyes. The girl wasn't much taller then her and had lots of light freckles around her nose. She nodded. The girl smiled, "Hi, I'm Lisa Turpin. Roger told me to find you. Seems we're going to be in the same dorm and we have the same schedule so I'll be showing you around for a few days. You know, until you get used to Hogwarts." Kate looked around. She hadn't realized when they were talking they had already gotten to the top of a tower and now stood in front of a picture of a large cat. "Spiced Peaches," Lisa said and the painting opened to a large room. They walked in. "This is the Common Room. People hang out in it all the time or do their homework," she said. They continued up a flight of stairs and finally stopped in front of a door which Lisa opened. "And this is our dormitory." Three girls were already in their chatting away merrily and looked up as the door opened. "Hey Lisa! We were just about to pick our beds but we decided to wait for you," a red-headed girl asked. "Hey Mandy! Kate, this is Mandy Brocklehurst," she said, referring to the red-headed girl. Next she pointed to an Indian girl with her dark hair in a braid, "This is Padma Patil." She pointed to the last girl who had blonde hair and freckles, "And this is Olivia Enderby. Everyone, this is Kate. She's the new girl we were told about." Everyone said a friendly hello to Kate. "So.are we going to pick our beds or what??" Mandy said. "Sure. Kate, let's let you pick first since you're new here," Lisa said. Kate ended up choosing the one in the middle. Mandy choose the one on the end nearest the door and Lisa picked the one in between Kate and Mandy. Padma picked the one in the far corner and Olivia took the one between Padma and Kate. They all talked for a couple minutes but then went to bed. Adjusting wouldn't be as hard as she had thought. Though she was exhausted she still lay awake. At about midnight she heard a whisper from Lisa's bed, "Anyone still awake?" "Yep.." Kate responded in a whisper. "Really? Everyone normally falls asleep long before me." "Same here." "Did Dumbledore ever tell you why you were sent to Hogwarts on such special conditions?" "No. I wonder myself." Lisa didn't say anything more. Kate lay there thinking about her new school and home and about the day that lay ahead. 


End file.
